Time flowed backward at this moment.
The Primordial Saint's eyes were bright. He quickly saw Xiu Zhen and Perfected One Subduing-Spirits right before the self-detonation, but in this scene, Xiu Zhen's silhouette was already missing.
He had been erased.
Past, present, and future—no one besides Dao Lords would remember him. Unless his Karma was related to a Dao Lord, it would also be reversed.
Then the question was:
"Why are you unaffected?"
The Primordial Saint stared intently at Perfected One Subduing-Spirits in the scene. The appearance matched, the Karma matched, the cultivation matched; no matter how he looked at it, this was just a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
If there was anything peculiar, it was that the Primordial Spirit fire brimming from his brow could not be concealed. However, since he was currently possessed by Xiu Zhen, the presence of Primordial Spirit light was completely normal. No, could this be a deliberate cover-up? Had a Dao Lord disguised themselves as this Foundation Establishment cultivator?
A Dao Lord disguising themselves as a Foundation Establishment cultivator was nothing new.
There were even those who knelt to a Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The problem was that a Primordial Spirit was difficult to hide. No matter how good the disguise, the Primordial Spirit was right there; even if it could fool other Dao Lords, it could not fool him.
'That is why Xiu Zhen was needed.'
'Xiu Zhen was merely a smokescreen. He was essentially a shell, a method used to disguise Perfected One Subduing-Spirits, thereby hiding the Primordial Spirit that should have been impossible to hide!'
Darkness under the lamp.
At this moment, the Primordial Saint's mind rapidly deduced all possible conspiracies. Finally, his gaze snapped over, looking directly at the black-robed figure not far away.
Was it him?
The Primordial Saint raised his hand and struck out with a palm, sweeping across the expanse. Seeing this, the black-robed figure turned and fled without a word, the ring of the Great Dao surfacing behind his head.
"RUMBLE!"
In the next instant, the black-robed figure vanished.
The Primordial Saint withdrew his hand, his brow slightly knit as he analyzed the sensation from that strike. It was indeed the [Dead Cycle]; the metamorphosis of essence could not hide from his perception.
'It wasn't him.'
'Am I overthinking this?'
With this thought, the Primordial Saint waved his hand and directly dragged the Karma of Perfected One Subduing-Spirits out from the past, manifesting a true physical form before him.
The Karma could be extracted.
So it truly wasn't a disguise?
The Primordial Saint frowned as he looked at the Perfected One Subduing-Spirits before him. He found that although this Foundation Establishment cultivator was completely unharmed, for some reason, he had no fluctuations of thought whatsoever.
The soul, the True Spirit, the physical body, and the sea of consciousness were all perfectly revived, but only the consciousness was gone. Rather than a person, he was more like an object, simply standing there blankly... Could it be that the previous mysterious Primordial Spirit's self-detonation had erased his consciousness?
The Primordial Saint slowly relaxed his brow.
Regardless, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits was right here before him. If it were truly a Dao Lord in disguise, it would be impossible to extract his Karma. A few doubts had been cleared up.
In the next second, Perfected One Subduing-Spirits's body crumbled like mud and sand, vanishing into nothingness.
The Primordial Saint also disappeared.
Meanwhile, the great battle within the False History was drawing to a close. Sword Lord broke through the Netherworld's blockade and returned to the [Paramita], and all the chaos returned to the right track.
Nothing had changed.
It was as if this was merely another failed operation by Lu Yang to rescue Sisui over the past decade.
The Netherworld, the Netherworld Lord's Palace.
The black-robed youth returned, sitting in the seat of honor. His chest heaved repeatedly, and only after a long while did he let out a long breath, causing a bloody hue to surface in the originally dim hall.
A thick scent of blood spread outward.
"Hoo..."
The heavy breathing swept through like a storm, ending only after a long while. The black-robed youth then waved his sleeve, finally dispersing the scent of blood.
Immediately after, a streak of light descended. It was exactly Lian Tiandou and Bu Tianque. Both their faces were written with worry. Lian Tiandou hurried forward, pulling out dozens of bottles from his robes one after another and setting them out before the black-robed youth: "Eat them all. They should help alleviate your injuries a little."
The black-robed youth readily followed the advice.
After consuming dozens of bottles of pills consecutively, his aura indeed stabilized somewhat. However, that was all; his injuries did not improve as a result.
Seeing this, Lian Tiandou shook his head.
It was an injury at the Dao Lord level. The pills he refined were of minimal use; the fact that they could help stabilize the aura was already a testament to the miraculous and profound nature of his alchemy.
Just then.
"Amitabha."
A dense Buddhist light illuminated the hall. Soon, a golden-bodied Buddha strode in, his face equally showing worry. It was the World Honored One, who had just finished his battle.
"Are you alright?"
The black-robed youth smiled upon hearing this: "Rest assured. I have cultivated the [Dead Cycle] after all, and with the Netherworld here, this bit of injury is actually nothing."
Having spoken, the black-robed youth's face abruptly distorted.
What was subsequently revealed was not Lu Yang's face, but Dao Tianqi's!
And behind his head was the ring of the Great Dao symbolizing the [Dead Cycle]. The essence was clear and unmistakable; otherwise, it would have been impossible to deceive the Primordial Saint's sharp eyes.
"With this, I have finally not failed Fellow Daoist Xuande's entrustment."
Dao Tianqi sighed in a low voice.
The World Honored One pressed his palms together, recalling the peril with some apprehension: "It was too risky. If he had been exposed just now, I fear it would have been a deadly tribulation."
Dao Tianqi shook his head: "Precisely because of that, we had to prepare for ten years."
Over the past ten years, Lu Yang had repeatedly allied with various parties to assault the False History, teaming up with the World Honored One to fight until the Dark Void shook and Karma was obscured. Was it merely to rescue Sisui?
Of course not!
Rescuing Sisui was merely a smokescreen. What he truly needed to do was provide cover for Dao Tianqi—to cover his secret journey to the Dark Void to cultivate the metamorphosis of the [Dead Cycle]!
In the current world, only Dao Tianqi possessed this capability.
Not because of his comprehension, but because the foundation for Lu Yang cultivating the [Dead Cycle]—the [Heavenly Palace]—was originally built using the Netherworld as a reference!
In other words:
What the [Heavenly Palace] could do, the Netherworld could actually do as well!
In the previous life, the [Heavenly Palace] used the sentient beings of the sea of light as its foundation to finally nurture the Dao Fruit of [Order], leading to the metamorphosis of the [Dead Cycle].
And what of the Netherworld?
It held a massive quantity of death spirits accumulated over countless years, equally possessing the foundation to nurture a Dao Fruit!
Although the volume of the Netherworld was far inferior to the [Heavenly Palace], the starting point of the Netherworld's Great Dao was much higher than [Order], and the two offset each other.
Furthermore, Dao Tianqi's own comprehension was sufficient, and he managed to find ways to patch up minor flaws.
Only then was he able to complete the crucial metamorphosis of the [Dead Cycle] within ten years, subsequently impersonating Lu Yang and pulling off this act of "crossing the sea under deceitful heavens" right before the Primordial Saint!
To enhance the persuasiveness of the identity, Lu Yang had specifically left behind a full-powered strike of the [Order] Great Dao for Dao Tianqi to use at a critical moment to gain the Primordial Saint's trust. This was also why, when the Primordial Saint clashed with "Lu Yang" earlier, he felt that [Order] lacked endurance.
This grand play had many setups.
From beginning to end, there was only one goal. It wasn't to force their way into the False History, nor was it to rescue Sisui. It was to send Lu Yang into the Ancient Era right under the Primordial Saint's nose!
Send him into the [Heavenly Being's Remnant Consciousness].
Send him into the eighth secret realm!
On this point, even with Dao Tianqi's Light of Wisdom, he found it somewhat difficult to understand: "It is my first time seeing such a perfect disguise technique."
"Except for the Primordial Spirit, almost all karmic auras were perfectly concealed."
"Unfortunately, I cannot learn it."
Hearing this, the World Honored One felt surprised: "Is there something even an idiot like you cannot learn?"
Dao Tianqi blinked: "I wanted to try and learn it, but Fellow Daoist Xuande said this isn't a method, but an innate talent he was born with..."
In a place that could not be named, known, or fathomed.
Lu Yang paced through the nothingness. With the joy and relief of having accomplished a great deed, he looked at a golden talent on the panel of the [Book of a Hundred Lifetimes] beside him.
[Turtle Dove Occupying the Magpie's Nest]!
"The eighth secret realm... this time, it is I who have seized the initiative from the Primordial Saint!"
(End of Chapter)